ken saro-wiwa memorial event

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MOSOP (CANADA) Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
300 Bloor Street West Toronto ON M5S 1W3
tel: 416.966.0910 fax: 416.966.0141
email: info@mosopcanada.org website: www.mosopcanada.org
Children of the Ken Saro-Wiwa and Moshood Abiola remember their late
fathers in Toronto
Ken Wiwa, journalist and son of executed Nigerian writer and activist Ken
Saro-Wiwa, and Hafsat Abiola, the daughter of the late President-elect of
Nigeria, Moshood Abiola, will be keynote speakers at the first annual Ken
Saro-Wiwa Memorial Lecture in Toronto, hosted by The Movement for the
Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Canada. The event will take place on
Friday, November 5 at Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor Street West, at
7.30 p.m.
This year's memorial event will take place in light of Nigeria's recent
return to democratic rule and the Nigerian government's landmark decision
to release to their families the remains of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight
Ogoni activists who were hanged with him. Dr. Owens Wiwa, recently returned
from this successful mission to his homeland, will also be present.
"This evening is a chance for us to remember those who have sacrificed
their lives for justice and democracy in Nigeria," Doctor Wiwa said. "It
was nearly four years ago, on November 10th, 1995, that Ken Saro-Wiwa and
eight other Ogonis were hanged simply for fighting the decades of
oppression of our people at the hands of the Nigerian dictatorship and
multinational oil companies. We remember them all today, and call for the
official exoneration of Ken in Nigeria before we lay him to rest in his
Ogoni homeland"
Hafsat Abiola is the founder of KIND (The Kudirat Initiative for Democracy)
and daughter of the rightful winner of the 1993 Nigerian elections
(annulled by Abacha). Ken Wiwa is a journalist who has recently settled in
Canada with his family.
Reading from Ken's work will be Nino Ricci, author and winner of the
Governor General's Award for his novel, The Lives of the Saints. Sandra
Martin, journalist and President of PEN Canada, will also introduce
International PEN's Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which has traditionally
honoured Ken Saro-Wiwa's life and work.
Musical artists will provide the evening's entertainment. Refreshments will
be served. Admission is free.
Half a million Ogoni people in Nigeria still live in a land devastated by
decades of oil development in the Niger Delta. Ken Saro-Wiwa and thousands
of other Ogonis have sacrificed their lives in peaceful protest against the
exploitation of their land by successive rapacious Nigerian dictatorships
and their allies in the oil industry, led by Shell Oil.
This event is co-sponsored by:
Southern Minorities Movement, PEN Canada, Sierra Club, Amnesty
International & Greenpeace.
For more information: contact Vanessa Higgins at MOSOP Canada (416) 966-0910
Other events to mark November 10th, 1999:
New Haven, CT. November 5-7th 1999 Yale University. Dr. Owens Wiwa will
speak (Nov. 6th) at the Student Alliance To Reform Corporations (STARC)
conference focusing on the student movement for corporate reform.
Vancouver, British Columbia. Wednesday November 10, 1999 from 4:00 - 6:00
at the Hastings and Victoria $hell station, an Ogoni Solidarity Network of
Vancouver rally will begin a fifth year of the Boycoll $hell campaign in
support of the Ogoni. At 7:30 pm, La Quena (1111 Commercial, phone 604
251-6626) and OSN will host a Vancouver Boycott $hell retrospective with
singer/songwriter Jim Sands and poet/performer Jay Hamburger.
London, Ontario. Friday November 19, 1999. University of Western Ontario,
Kings College. A panel discussion on Ogoni and Environmental Justice
featuring Professor Hammond Bernie and Professor Vincent Idemyor among
others.
____________________________________________________________________________
__________
The Struggle Continues for Ogoni Autonomy, Environmental Justice and
Resource Control
MOSOP Canada
info@mosopcanada.org
www.mosopcanada.org
tel 416 966 0910
fax 416 966 0141